LISBON – Two members of the Lisbon Police Department recently completed a 16-hour course on response to railroad-related incidents. The Grade Crossing Collision Investigation program, attended by Officers Darin Estes and Richard St. Amant, was held recently in Bangor. A rail line is being reactivated in the Lisbon area.

The course, approved by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy toward police officers’ annual required training, details how train-vehicle collisions are different from vehicle-vehicle crashes.

St. Amant and Estes, along with 18 police officers and sheriff’s deputies from the region, learned about response to such incidents, including contacting the railroad, securing the collision scene, being aware of hazardous materials, walking around railroad equipment and interrogation of railroad personnel.

Beside classroom time, officers were familiarized with railroad signals, locomotives and railroad cars during a hands-on session in Hermon courtesy of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.

The instruction was provided by area railroad and Federal Railroad Administration officials. Besides crossing collisions, law enforcement learned about state and federal law as it permits to rail-related incidents, trespass enforcement and investigation of vandalism to railroad property and equipment.

There was no cost to police agencies or to the officers. The course was financed by Maine Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit education organization dedicated to reducing crashes at railroad crossings and trespass incidents along Maine’s 1,200 miles of active rail lines.